


A Drop of Rain

by gr3asy_p1ss_l1zard



Category: Original Work
Genre: Character Death, Depression, F/F, F/M, Fluff, M/M, OC, Original work - Freeform, Short Story, Suicide
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-04
Updated: 2020-04-04
Packaged: 2021-03-01 04:47:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,100
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23479456
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gr3asy_p1ss_l1zard/pseuds/gr3asy_p1ss_l1zard
Summary: This is an original work I wrote. I don't really expect anyone to read it, mostly because its not fanfiction and this is a fanfiction website.The story follows Ibaki Tomadachi (OC) through her life for a couple of months as she slowly figures out how to live again after the suicide of her manipulative ex.
Relationships: Ibaki Tomadachi/Kiki (Past), Ibaki Tomadachi/Yui, Ketsu Tomadachi/Tsuni Morei
Kudos: 1





	A Drop of Rain

Tap. Tap. Tap. 

The incessant thunder of the rain on the roof pounded away, gently falling around her ears, dripping against the glass of the skylight, rushing up to the ground. She opened her eyes, the frothing grey sky coming into view through the window. The rain rushed toward her face, disorienting, blurring, falling on and on. 

She turned over, the warm, fleecy blankets snagging on her legs, wrapping around themselves, and rolled out of her bed. Cold air rushed against her bare, lean limbs, the smooth wood floor shockingly frigid against the bare soles of her feet. 

Ibaki’s head spun slightly, a fuzz of static shooting across her vision before fading away. A distant rumble of thunder rocked the outside world, closely following the bright streaks that highlighted the tossing branches of the trees outside. 

The bathroom tiles were even colder, like ice beneath her feet. Ibaki leaned over the sink, steadying herself against the marble cabinet, and glanced up. Thick, ginger tangles hung in her face, catching a strange amber color in the clear, vaguely gold light of the electric candle beside the sink. 

Ibaki sighed, leaned over, and flicked on the light, illuminating the darkish room with clear white radiance.

She padded softly back down the hall, swinging into her room sluggishly and stalking over to the neatly organized closet.

It was so much easier to pretend to be alright when she was wearing normal clothes and her hair was brushed into neat waves as opposed to pajamas and a lovely ginger rats nest. 

Ibaki swung her backpack over her shoulder, relishing the comforting feeling of the rough fabric cutting through her thin black jacket, the slosh of her water shifting as she swung on her backpack. 

The night’s storm had left everything green and grey, all of the colors intensified against the washed out, dove colored sky. Ibaki’s hair caught in the light, hanging wind, lifting into a flaming curtain in the wind, before falling back across her shoulders. 

The gravel shifting beneath her feet, scratching against itself and sinking deeper into the mud. Ibaki stopped, just for a moment, to take in the soft, watery, fresh scent of the rainy morning, breathing the humid, cold air in with one deep gasp. There were so many birds out this morning, called out by the freshness of the rainfall - robins, magpies, jays, sparrows, red-wing blackbirds, and crows - all calling out in a strange medley of cawing and chirping. 

“Whatcha looking at? We still gotta get to school.”

“And you wanna see Tsuni. I know. Honestly. You are really freaking predictable.”

“And you aren’t?”

“Haha. Maybe. But we can all agree that I am less so than, well yeah.”

“Humf. Well I’m just glad it's over. I thought you … well… anyway. Yeah. That’s over.”

Ibaki glanced back at the sky, watching the grey clouds move slowly over on another. There were so many colors and layers, so much beyond simply grey. There were layers of cotton candy, others like flowing water, all sliding across the sky in slow motion. 

She sighed and looked back down, suddenly finding the plain, grey brown mosaic of gravel to be almost as interesting as her black converse. It was over, all of it. 

Wasn’t it?

The brightly lit hall of the school, fraught with warmth and filling with the mingling colors of all of the students, wrapped her into itself, pulling her back into the world Ibaki had come to take for granted. 

Kyari raised one pale hand, waving lazily back and forth, the fuzzy, gunmetal blue aura around her arm catching her eyes long before she herself did. 

Ibaki smiled, putting a little bit of her old swagger back into her walk and opening up her stride as she walked down the hall. Ashiki reached out, her cinnamon toned color proceeding her as she moved on hand out to wrap around Ibaki’s ankle.

“Sit down!”

Ibaki grinned down at Kyari and Ashiki, folding her legs carefully to avoid catching her long, furry tail. The thick bottlebrush of her tail swept across Kyari’s grey jeans, swirling across her legs to rest over her lap. 

Kyari arched her back, stretching her shoulders back, her long, ash grey wings spreading slightly. “So. I heard that your brother was dating Tsuni. Any thoughts?”

“Yeah. They’re dating.” Ibaki paused, glancing around, as if to check for her brother’s auburn hair and horns. Or Tsuni’s strangely cut, peach gold hair, gelled up in a gravity defying sweep on one side. “Honestly, they are pretty cute together.” 

Ashiki nudged her, her small warm hand poking her a couple of times in the side. Ibaki turned, probably hitting someone across the face with her thick, ginger lion’s mane. 

“Speak of the devil!” Ashiki grinned at her, her chocolate milk skin tone lighting up with a small, mischievous smile, the warmth of it reaching her dark, indigo eyes. 

As inky as her irises were, Ibaki had never seen the look behind them match their darkness. 

“Hey! Ibaki! Guess who I found!”

Her brother walked up, tousled, light auburn hair catching on the roughness of his ram horns, freckled face lit with a smile so bright it almost reflected off his glasses.

Tsuni, also smiling, long, neaty gelled, pastel peach hair sticking up in a few little cowlicks. Tsuni was like, almost 6 feet tall while her poor brother was just over 5 feet. 

Ketsu looked 10 while Tsuni could have been in his early 20s. Maybe it was just the comparison. 

Ketsu was wearing an Alice and Wonderland sweater.

IBAKI’S Alice in Wonderland sweater. 

Oh well, there were always disadvantages to having a brother that was the same height as her. Tsuni was holding Ketsu’s hand, a benign and surprisingly mature smile pasted on his face. 

The bell rang through the hall echoing above the rumbling thunder, sending them all into the surging crowd that began to flow down the hall, an ocean breaking lightly against the walls. 

The sun was watery outside, the greyish, washed out light accentuating all bright colors while draining the life from everything else. A few, sparse rumbles of thunder still rattling in the distance, the lightning of the night all but gone. 

Ibaki strolled slowly out into the fresh, windy coolness of the green space beside the freshman wing of the school, glancing briefly over her shoulder at the glass monolith that was the school. Cloudy, lightly color figures wound their way back and forth behind the glass, trapped in the cage of the second floor bridge. 

A light breeze spun through the soft, hanging mist that had formed in the morning, sending moist spirals of whiteness scurrying like tumbleweeds across the concrete of the school entrance. Ketsu and Tsuni strolled out of the mist, hand in hand, wrists swinging in time as they swaggered loosely toward her. 

“Hey guys.” Ibaki smiled, pulling her face into a grin that exposed the long tips of her canine teeth. 

“Hey sis.” Ketsu grinned, a smirk worthy of the Cheshire Cat on his shirt. 

“Hey, Ibaki. Are you going to track practice after school?” Tsuni tipped his head to one side, reaching up to ruffle a hand through his long, peach colored hair.

“Yeah. I thought I always did.”

“Well you keep going to that dumb trivia club on Thursdays so I thought I would check.”

“Tuesdays, Tsuni. And it’s not a dumb club, You hater.” Ibaki couldn’t help but be annoyed. For all her efforts to reintegrate into regular life, she still got shit from her best friend regardless.

Kou strolled up out of the rolling mist, a confident smirk pasted on her makeup laden face, lightly curled rose gold hair wet with mist and a little less bouncy. “Trouble in Paradise?” 

“Please don’t say anything about astrology right now. And nothing is wrong.”

“Except for your crazy ex.”

“She’s dead, Kou. I don’t think she will be of much consequence.” A small shoot of pain and sorrow wound through her, regret flowing in her limbs. Ibaki swept her tail back, flicking it through the mist around her calves. The flowing tendrils of moisture swirled with added vengeance, excited by the air her tail had moved. 

Ibaki tried not to look at Kou, hoping she would not see the pain in her eyes, praying she would not sense the pain in her heart. As much as Ibaki had wanted to be free she still felt the guilt of her ex’s death as sharply as though she had killed the girl herself.

Another figure appeared in the mist, the swirling whiteness parting to reveal a ginger sweep of hair, dyed rainbow tones at the end and shaved to about an inch long on one side. Iakei’s glasses were coated with moisture, the mist shining on the patches of rounded, iridescent scales that coated his cheeks and forehead. 

“Hey. Hope I’m not interrupting anything.” Iakei smiled, a small, rather wane grin that barely reached his dark blue eyes. 

“Nah. You good.” Ketsu, as similar as he was to her, had always been a little more chill with his use of language.

“Great.” His eyes turned distant, his whole world becoming the pixelated surface of his phone screen. 

Another girl stalked out of the swirling fog, soft footsteps graceful as she sashayed into view. There were little drops of moisture shining on Jaheri's silky, dark brown hair and the furry tips of her long, dove grey wolf ears.

“Hey.”

“What’s up Jamei? How’s life?” Ibaki smiled, her favorite conversation phrase falling limply off her tongue, sad, cliche and overused. 

“Do you know if Coach Anderson is taking the group running this Saturday?”

“Not if the weather keeps up like this, he’s not. At least, not with much of a squad. I would rather not be electrocuted.” 

Jamei smiled at her, eyes the same cold malachite color as jade staring back at her. 

A small cold thought went through her, shaking up her train of thought. Ibaki had a feeling that she would never really get a chance to know Jamei better.

Ibaki swung her backpack over her shoulder, feeling the light fabric of her running jacket barely keeping the rough strips of coarse backpack from the freckled skin of her shoulders. The evening sun streamed through the glass windows that lined the upper half of the cavernous gym. 

Tsuni raised one lazy hand, sweeping his large palm through the warm, sun and dust soaked light of the gym.

Ibaki smiled, putting the light back behind her eyes, washing away the worry that had darkened her garnet irises with a sun warmed smile. Ketsu sat on the bench beside her brother, still in her sweater, his stone washed jeans out of place among the abundance of leggings and track suits. His small hand gripped Tsuni’s, freckled palm enfolded in Tsuni’s tanned, oversized plate of a hand. 

“Hey Ibaki. Can you tell Dad I’m working an extra hour when you go home tonight? I promised Tomaki I could help out a little longer.”

“Totally. I can work this Friday so it would be great if you could tell Mesha that. I know she wanted to get Friday off so she would be able to work on the MAP with Re but since Friday is so busy..”

“Yeah. I will definitely mention it. She has been complaining nonstop since Monday.”

Ketsu smiled one more time, hefting his grey backpack on one sweater clad shoulder before detangling his hand from Tsuni’s and tripping his way down the faded, poop brown bleachers and out into the warm, lazy March sunlight.

He turned around, a small, boyish smile catching in the light, ruby eyes a clear, jewel bright color in the setting sun. “See you tomorrow, Tsuni!”

The door, large, black and final swung shut behind him, shutting off the stream of cool, sun drenched air, leaving behind only the swirling dust motes of the sunny, stuffy, gym. 

Tsuni glanced at her, shrugged his lanky shoulders once and turned to gaze emptily across the oversized gym. Ketsu made him so happy. A small stab of regret twinged at her. Her own relationship with him hadn’t been so happy. More of a friend relationship, only a month long and started on a whim and a small, innocent crush. 

Coach Grey walked into the gym, his many bags bouncing with the motion of his steps, moving with the slight waddle of an overweight older man. 

The warm sun beat down from the west, so much fuller than the weakness of the winter light Ibaki had grown used to. Her skin showed the difference, the space between her plentiful freckles milky as the moon, no color left after the long, cloudy winter. 

Snow still clung in the shadows, refusing to surrender to the increasing heat of the March sunlight, even as it dwindled to small, sad clumps of tarnished whiteness. 

A few flecks of fluffy whiteness darted across the sky, easily the most benign clouds Ibaki had seen since the previous October. There were even little shots of timid greenness among the dry golden tones of the grass, the new birth reaching shyly toward the sky that stretched, blue, vast and unrelenting above. 

The sky’s sapphire color was so much richer than the washed out gunmetal they had grown used to over the long winter, the boldness of the color stark after the grey clouds that had prevailed through most of the day.

Of course, the stormy darkness of rain still loomed on the horizon, massing over the still snowbound peaks of the nearby mountains. 

But the threat of rainfall seemed insignificant in the warm, buttery light of the fading evening. 

The apartment was dark and empty when I got back, plain and lined with the same grey carpet and coffee wallpaper as every other other in the ten story complex. Before shutting the door I glance behind her, out at the glassy, enclosed square of the center of the complex. Balconies, shading plain, shiny windows from the fading daylight stretched up toward the hidden sky. 

Ibaki sighed, trying to banish Kiki’s coffee toned face and long, shiny black hair from the inside of her eyelids. Her warm, maroon toned color seemed to color everything in her vision, invading even the familiarity of the dim kitchen. 

The warm golden light caught on the dish, piled in the sink, a minimal amount but still present, shining on the clean empty table top. Ibaki glanced at the wall, searching for the coat and keys of her father. 

Nothing, She was home alone.

Ibaki flung her backpack onto the tabletop, watching it slide to a slow, anticlimactic stop on the lightly polished, caramel color fake tile. The fridge was mostly empty, lined only with a few bags of lettuce, some spinach, yogurt and a gallon of milk. 

Ibaki tossed some Greek yogurt onto the lettuce and sprouts leftover from last night, mixing in almonds and slabbed a fork into the messy, impromptu salad with unnecessary vengeance. 

Her math homework swam before her eyes, the neatly writing equations Ibaki had penned in only seconds before faint as Kiki’s face, reproachful and dark, her black eyes dark with judgement swam into view. Ibaki squeezed her eyes shut, almost wishing the tears would come.

Anything would be better than this numbness.

_The salad on her plate, a wilted mess of lettuce and carrots doused in plain Italian dressing was sad and unappetizing on her plate._

_Ibaki stabbed her fork into the green mass, the metal prongs of the utensil scrapping on the plate with an infuriating screech. Nervousness curdled in her stomach, clawing at her insides, licking at her ribs and heart._

_Ibaki crammed a small bite of salad into her mouth, chewing with deliberate slowness, swallowing with a forced deliberation._

_“Ibaki. Are you okay?” her father, his eyes, red as hers, the same garnet color her whole family shared, gazed into her open face from behind his wire rimmed glasses._

_There was a large, stark white streak in his gelled up ginger hair, neatly swept up in a gravity defying pyramid of hair._

_“Yeah. I’m just… really nervous.” It had been a long time since Ibaki so open about her life to her father. She was never really sure if he was okay with her being bi. It didn’t really matter now._

_“Oh. I’m sorry.”_

_Dad was an engineer, always working, scribbling on his notes, looking through the plans on his phone, even at dinner. As much as he wanted to be there for Ketsu and her he was still a busy single parent._

_Her phone buzzed, bouncing against the faux tile of the table top. Ibaki turned it over, swiping in her code._

_The number said Kiki._

_The text said there was no more Kiki._

_“Excuse her. I will be right back.”_

She was gone. And it was because of her. Her drama was only a part of it. Ibaki was the reason Kiki would never again walk down the hall, never again look at her, not even to glare. 

Kiki had _told_ her how much Ibaki meant. Had explained that she needed Ibaki to stay in this world. Had promised that Ibaki leaving meant the end of her life. 

And for all her flaws, Ibaki had stayed. Had kept her alive. And it was only after she gave up that Kiki lost her life. 

It was Ibaki’s fault.

  
  
  


A door slammed in the background, the sharp noise of cheap wood slamming back into its frame echoing dully through the empty, carpet like silence of the small, constricted halls of the apartment. 

Her dad walked in, shaking his head back and forth, spreading a few drops of water across the kitchen table. They lay there, tiny shining beads of moisture on the smooth tabletop. His neatly gelled red hair, up in its usually swept pyramid of thick plasticy gingery gelled hair glistened with the rest of the storm, beading off the thick, apparently waterproof gel. 

“Hey. How’s it going?” He had been asking her about how life was going much more often since the thing with Kiki. When Ibaki had come out of the bathroom looking like I had been doing drugs, her eyes the same shade of red all over, she had been forced to explain the entire situation. 

“Fine Dad. I already ate dinner and I finished her math homework. I still need to finish the science research notes and her history paper.” 

“Nice. Is your brother working late?”

“Yeah. I can still work her shift on Friday, right?”

“Yes. I am working late Friday. I need to finish the project planning that my team and I have been working on.”

“Sure.”

“Do you know when Ketsu is getting home?”

“He said he was going to work an extra hour. I guess he should be home by 7:15, since he usually only works until 6 and the bus picks up near Frosted Peaks at 7:00.”

“Okay. Are you going to work on your homework in your room or the kitchen?”

“All of her stuff is in the kitchen. I was going to work there but if I’m in your way while you are eating or whatever I can move to her bedroom desk.”

“No, you are fine. I wanted to talk to you so I was curious whether or not I would have to come find you.” He smiled, a sheepish expression so like Ketsu’s grin that Ibaki wanted to grin herself. 

Then again, her own smile probably looked similar. They were twins after all. Ibaki turned on her heel, gliding back around the corner into the warmly lit kitchen and sliding onto the stool she had been working on. 

Her fingers clicked away at the keys, the keypad of her laptop clicking under her pads, letters scrolling across the screen in time with her typing. World War Two - a topic that literally everyone had to do an essay on, no matter what country you were from. 

Japanese students had a worse time of it in that respect though, Ibaki suspected. Since Japan not only lost the war but also had two bombs dropped on major cities. 

Ibaki finished her thesis summary statement, submitting the project and closing the tab with a few quick clicks on the worn mouse pad of her laptop. The silvery coating on the pad and keys had worn away in place where her fingers had repeatedly slammed on the keys. 

As old as her laptop was it was a relic that still worked great. Effective for everything from essay writing to late night anime binges.

Her father dumped his plate in the sink, the glass clattering lightly on the bottom of the sink, clinking against the other plates lined up on one side. He came back to the table, the worn metal of the stool creaking a little under his 71 kilograms of weight.

Why there were four stools and only three of them Ibaki wasn’t completely sure. Of course they occasionally had guests, but generally her dad took guests out to dinner at sushi places. 

Always great when Dad had guests. Vegetarian sushi was the best food ever invented. 

Dad never invited relatives over either. They usually went to their place, if they ever saw them at all. 

Dad cleared his throat, a sharp, wet noise, loud in the silence. Ibaki glanced up, her mouth forming a curious O, “Yeah, Dad?”

“I would like to ask you something. I hope you can be honest with her. I am not mad and nobody will be in trouble.”

Ibaki sighed. There were two options. Either Dad wanted to know more about Kiki or he had heard about Ketsu and Tsuni.

“Sure. What is it?”

“Is your brother dating someone?”

“Yeah. We are 15 though Dad. I don’t see why that’s a problem. Anyway he already told you that.”

Ibaki turned back to her screen, keeping her immense relief inside, the picture of nonchalance. The thunder echoed outside, bouncing off the walls, reverberating around the building, muffled and distant in the small apartment kitchen. 

“Yes, I am aware that her children are plenty old enough to date. I was mostly curious because he never mentioned it but I think the said person is a boy.”

“Yeah. But that’s not a problem, right? I heard you were okay with the whole her-and-Kiki thing so…”

“Yes. I was. You were very open with her about the fact that you were bi. I am fine with it. But I suppose a small part of her was hoping I had managed to raise at least one straight kid.”

“Haha. Cute Dad. But no. Ketsu is full on, very much gay. Why else do you think he steals my clothes?”

“Oh. Am I allowed to know who the boy is?”

Ibaki smiled awkwardly. “Yeah. Actually, It's my ex, Tsuni.”

“Isn’t that weird for you?”  
“Not really. It was mostly a friend relationship and that was back in grade school.”

Her father smiled, a small tired look. “Thanks for being honest. I wasn’t sure if you wanted to tell her since it isn’t about you.”

“Ketsu has been parading his gayness around the school. I think his own dad deserves to know.”

Her dad laughed, a rather strained, awkward sound, the kind of laugh that closed conversations with its overwhelming forcedness.

The apartment door opened again, Ketsu’s footsteps closely chased by the booming of thunder and the pounding cacophony of rain on the glass walls and roof of the building. Ketsu swung around the corner, his freckled hand flexing on the door father as he hurled himself into the dining room. 

Ibaki paused in her typing, hands poised spider like over the worn keys, long, whitish nails inches above the laptop. “Hey Ketsu. Did you tell Mesha I could work? I don’t want her to have to show up if she doesn’t have to.”

“Yeah, I dropped her a line. Got you covered, sis.”

“You kids work so hard to support yourselves. You really don’t have to.”

“Dad, I know you are really well paid but Ketsu and I like to help ease the burden of being a single parent. That's what good families are supposed to do.”

Dad sighed, pushing off his worn stool and ambling over to her in a few quick strides. He leaned down a little, wrapping his long, white suited arms around her loosely. His tie, a candy stripe stripe of neatly tied fabric hung in her face, swinging a little in the stillness. 

“What did I ever do to deserve you kids?”

Ibaki glanced, surprised, at Ketsu over her dad’s shoulder, cautiously moving her arms up to hang limply on her dad’s crispy suited back. 

Dad released her, turning to Ketsu, and enveloping him, dripping wet and all, headless of the way his clothes hung drenched off him or the way his rain soaked hair was plastered to his face with water. 

Ibaki would be forever grateful that, single and stressed though her dad might be, he was a supportive and accepting parent. Ibaki knew for a fact that most dads would have thrown a hissy fit at finding out their daughter had a girlfriend or their son was very gay. 

Heck, most parents would have minor conniptions at their children getting into a straight relationship. 

Ketsu shook himself a little, looking about as shocked, (although, admittedly, pleasantly surprised) as I was. 

“Eww Dad. I’m all wet. You will wrinkle your pristine suit.” Ibaki met eyes with Ketsu.

_That’s my line._

Slowly, deliberately, Ibaki mouthed out the words, as if indignant Ketsu would dare take her line. her gentle amusement must have shown through her seriousness though because Ketsu grinned mischievously at her, teasing as all brothers do. 

Ibaki rose to her feet, her own chair squeaking a little as her slippery track pants slid off the metal. 

The faint, rain washed sunlight filtering in from outside caught on the freshly cleaned tabletops, gleaming off all the screens of the university students sprawled across the table, shining on the logo of her Alice in Wonderland sweater and the Homestuck troll on Ketsu’s shirt.

The bell at the door jingled, a clear, birdlike sound that clamored over the low buzz of conversation in the coffee shop. 

The newcomer was an older woman, red hair shot through with silver and white, freckled face spotted with stray raindrops from the drizzly day outside.  
She ambled up to the counter, leaning over a little so that her freckled chest spilled out just a bit. “I will have the vanilla latte, with whipped cream if you don’t mind.” 

Ketsu nodded, his long ginger hair bobbing around his face, falling forward from behind his curving horns as he bent over to write down the woman’s order.

“Ketsu, huh? That’s an unusual name.”

Ugh, a chatter. Too bad not everyone was as busy as the university kids, who just sat down, pulled out their work and got to typing, or scribbling or whatever, while Ketsu or Ibaki prepared their order.

“And this young lady - Ibaki, is it? - must be your sister!”

Not only was she way too excited about this dead end conversation but she was also getting low key creepy. 

Ibaki turned away, wishing in vain that she had decided to leave the customary worker name tags that Mesha had demanded we all wear. From the small, regretful yet confused look on Ketsu’s face, he was thinking the same thing right about then. 

Ibaki moved over to the prep station, pouring warm coffee into the plain, Styrofoam cup, moving it over to the creamer, adding a little sugar in addition to the rich, milky cream. Ibaki reached over to the condiments, grabbing the whipped cream. A generous amount of thick, sugary whiteness later, the old woman’s order was ready to go. 

“Vanilla latte with whipped cream, your order is ready.”

The old woman turned, smiling strangely at her. “Thank you so much, Ibaki! Would you and your brother mind joining her while I drink my coffee? I am a lonely old lady after all.”

Ooh, this was getting into hardcore kidnapper territory at this point. And playing the ‘old lady’ card. Low blow.

Ketsu didn’t seem to find anything wrong with this lovely, sketchy situation. “Of course ma’am. We wouldn't mind.”

He smiled, a warm, innocent grin that reached his eyes, pulling his freckled face into the picture of boyish innocence and sat down at the table next to the employee gate. 

He turned to her, hair still falling into his face, grey scarf shifting to one side as he twisted in his chair, and waved one hand in a small but vigorous beckon. 

Ibaki sighed, brushed her hands twice down the front of her sweater in a brisk, precise motion, and then stepped stiffly through the gate, across the coffee toned tile and over to the caramel tinted wood of the table. 

Ibaki sat down slowly, hesitant and ramrod straight, as stiff as a board. 

“No offense intended ma’am but if new customers arrive we will have to return to take their orders.”

“I fully understand, Ibaki, thank you very much. But please, call me Lebi.”

Ketsu smiled at this, his face still lit by that inner child. “We have an aunt named Lebi.”

“You wouldn’t happen to be Mabin Tomadachi’s twins would you?”

“Yes, Lebi. He’s our dad all right.”

Ibaki cringed a little at Ketsu’s openness. This old stalker bat might know their dad but telling her personal stuff, like the fact that he was their dad, seemed to be throwing caution to the winds entirely. 

“Yes, her brother has done a fine job of raising you kids. It’s really a shame he hasn’t let her near either one of you since you two were born.”

It was time I said something. “So you are our aunt Lebi? You do realize he hates you because you convinced our mother to leave us, leaving him to raise two children alone and heartbroken.”

She smiled at her, her sweet, grandmotherly smile a little sour, her lips pursed into a fake grin. “Yes, your father doesn’t really care to mend our relationship. For the record, your mother left of her own accord. He really is a terrible husband.”

Ketsu’s sweet face had turned rather stony over this, his freckles sinking into a small but dark frown. “Excuse me, but you may be wrong about that. Dad has been a great parent and is one of the best dads anyone could ask for. Don’t be a hater, you old…”

“Oh well, would you look at that, more customers!” Ibaki jumped up, wrapping one hand firmly around Ketsu’s elbow and sashaying back to the kitchen, awkward as hell but out of their all the same.

Lebi stood up, slamming her empty cup into the trash can with what might be considered unnecessary force and, after casting a final glare at Ketsu and Ibaki, drew herself up and marched out of the coffee shop.

Ketsu whipped toward her, looking extraordinarily confused. “So….”

Ibaki shrugged, her sweater cloaked shoulders rising toward her ears with the force of her total confusion. “I genuinely have no idea what the heck just happened except that you were about to roast that family ruining old crone.”

Ketsu sighed, all of the fire escaping him in one huge huff. “her confusion is total.”

“You can say that again.”

The warm sun, a glaring yet benign eye from the sky above glared down, bouncing off the towering overlords of the skyscrapers. The menacing, gleaming buildings, actually herrely apartments and offices, didn’t reach for the azure expanse of the sky, content to squat over the bustling streets, crowded with the winding ants of human society.

The same could not be said for the weak cherry trees that lined the streets, timidly clawing at the sapphire sky above, their tiny, lightly flowered branches a beautiful, bubble gum ice cream pink against the vast empty blueness.

Ketsu and Ibaki strolled down the sidewalk, her combat boots tapping in time to the slapping of his converse, their feet moving in eerie synchrony. A cool wind darted like a small dog through the crowd, winding between the legs of the many-footed mass of humanity and rolling out across the road, carrying the frigidness of the snow that still clung to the shoulders of the nearby mountains. 

A boy, footsteps thumping loudly against the concrete, silver and lavender soccer jersey flapping in the speed of his wind, raced toward them, slamming into her shoulder in his haste. Ibaki turned, about to scream after him beratingly, only to see that he had stopped, turning back to glance as her regretfully.

“Sorry. I’ll be… more careful.” He smiled, a sheepish look, and reached up to ruffle the ungelled section of his brilliant Caribbean turquoise hair. 

He had long hair, hanging around his face and ears, catching on the long, straight, goat like horns that rose above his head before curling back, just a little. 

He had gelled up a section, around one third of his total hair, on one side, up in a strange, unusual and unbalanced sweep, similar to Tsuni’s. 

“It’s okay. Do I know you from somewhere?”

“I go to the same school as you. We’re in the same AP Biology class.”

“Ah, sorry. Are you new?”

“I have gone to the same school as you since grade school.” He was beginning to look a little offended.

Ibaki laughed, a little, rather forced and distinctly awkward noise. “Guess I really am blind.”

He smiled, full mouth lifting into a sincere grin. There was a long scar on his neck, snow white against his pale skin, ragged but long healed. 

“Maybe you will say hi to her on Monday.”

“If I remember.” Ibaki couldn’t believe she had gone to school with this kid for years and only now noticed him. He had turquoise hair for God’s sake. Not exactly forgettable.

“HI! I remember you!!!”

The boy’s loud, full voice echoed up the dim window lined hall, bouncing between the craziness of the crowd. Ibaki spun, the loose fabric of her jacket sweeping out around her.

“Hi! I remember you too!”

“My name’s Yui, in case you didn’t know that.”

“Ibaki.”

“Nice. You are in my art class. I play soccer, you should come to our game tomorrow.”

This was moving a little fast. But Yui seemed pretty cool, especially with his bright, crazily gelled hair. Apparently, he only wore team colors, though, because the t-shirt he was sporting was lavender and silver, school colors. 

But that was okay. His hair was a real winner.

The art class, busy as it was, was quiet in the corner. Ibaki flung down her bag, whipping out her sketchbook and flipping to the page with her newest OC’s. Footsteps came a closer, tennis shoes moving closer to her out of the corner of her vision. 

Yui flopped down, thudding heavily onto the tiled floor and sprawling out next to her.

“Hey. You are drawing over here all alone, you sad lil bean. You are really antisocial. I thought you and Ketsu were twins.”

“I’m not antisocial, I just don’t like talking when I’m arting.”

“Cool. But I’m bored so I’ma be annoying. You given the soccer game any thought?”

“I have track practice. But I could miss one day. They might cancel for the game, I’m not sure.”

“You should come. I need a support squad.” He had one of those smiles, Ibaki thought. Bright and innocent, like the sun. Like Ketsu, a little.

“I guess. I’ll bring Ketsu.”

“Please do. I wanna see you two more. Gingers are me favorite.”

“Haha. I’ma take that in the least creepy way I can and say, sure, I’m coming.”

“Yay! I will buy you food if you want.” His smile, wide, boyish, eager and innocent all in one, stretched his whole face with its brightness, his vibrant hair shifting to one side as he smiled. 

This kid was the most sincere person Ibaki had met since her own twin brother. 

She smiled, her own face lighting up, all the way to her garnet red eyes. “I am looking forward to it already.”

“What’s your favorite anime?”

“Probably Psycho Pass if you want one of the mainstream ones. But I also watch the obscure anime a lot too. Charlotte is pretty good.” 

“Isn’t that the sad one?”

“Not really. Angel Beats is worse.” 

“What are you drawing?”

“My gay OC’s. They are really cute together. I’m really proud of these.” Ibaki turned a little red, her face flushing a little, to a warmer color, than its usually moon pale freckled tone. 

“Cool. So are you into gay stuff?”

“My brother’s gay and I’m bi. I guess you could say I’m an advocate.”

“Cool. I respect that. I’m straight though.”

“Ever been in a relationship?”

“Nah. Had crushes before though.” He grinned sideways at her, innocent and wide, as if asking her to tell him her own life story.

“I have been in two relationships. I guess the first one doesn’t really count though.”

“How come?”

“Well, it was one of those friend relationships. And the guy turned out to be gay.”

“Oof. Awkward.”

“Ehh. Better than the second.”

“What happened?”

“She was overly dramatic. So I broke it off. And she committed suicide.” Kiki glared at her, dark cocoa eyes burning into her nonexistent ginger soul. 

“Uhh. I’m not sure… Yeah, that sucks.” 

“Hehe. Yeah, I’m forever single now.”

“Maybe not forever.” He grinned at her, that big, boyish innocent smile that made her want to laugh. He was a bright bubbly turquoise color, the shade making her think of children’s laughter and sunshine. A happy color. 

  
  


“Hold my popcorn, Ketsu.”

Ibaki jumped up, feet slapping loudly against the metal bleachers, clunking over the thunder of the crowd. SHe placed her palms against the metal of the railing, leaping up with a quick shove, her legs slamming into the mesh of the fence.

“GO YUI!!!! ScOrE tHaT gOaL!!!” Her voice cracked a little, ringing out loud over the crowd. 

Yui glanced up at her, smile visible even at this distance.

Even among the bright crisp colors of the jerseys, his bright hair stood out, a brilliant color against the cloudy sky. He waved, raising on hand above him and moving it lazily in the stormy air. 

Even from this far away, the bright, clear grey of his eyes was visible, the same clear, cloudy color of the storm clouds above but so much brighter. 

The crowd behind her surged, roaring as Yui kicked the soccer ball into the other team's goal. Ibaki leapt onto the fence, balanced delicately on the thin metal bar, and raised her arms into the air, screaming at the top of her lungs, growing louder even as her feet wobbled and her voice cracked. 

The game was over and Yui was the champion. Ibaki screamed out her congrats, her high, strangely clear voice echoing over the din of the crowd. “GREAT JOB!!! YOU WON!! WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS!!!!!”  
Yui came out from the field behind the team, filing through the gate and out into the surging crowd of students and parents. The sea of supporters engulfed him, but not before Ibaki saw his desperate look of adrenalized terror below his tousled turquoise hair. 

“Hey, where did Yui go? He did so good. I wanted to congratulate him.” Ketsu appeared at her shoulder, small and solid, his ginger hair standing out from the blur of her peripheral vision. His garnet eyes were bright with excitement, almost as wild as her own blood red eyes. 

Someone grabbed her wrist, their hand warm and calloused, strong in desperation. Mostly on instinct, I reached out with her other hand grabbing the person’s wrist and leaning back to pull them toward her.

Yui, hair totally ungelled now, and pointing in every direction, burst from the crowd like a cork from a bottle. A few older women glanced at her, glaring at Yui just a little, as if upset he had forced his way between them to get free.

His jersey was as messy as his hair, weirdly creased and dirty in places. But Ren was grinning, a big bright smile filled with triumph and mirth, a bright look of pure joy. 

He wrapped his arms around her surprised form, pulling her against his scrawny chest, apparently unaware that he was sweaty and muddy. 

“We WON!! I won!!!”

“Yes! Yes you did!” Ibaki hesitantly wrapped her arms around his boney shoulders, letting him hug her for real. 

This was okay. Not bad at all. I could live with this. 

Kiki wasn’t having any of it. 

Ibaki placed her palms against the cold railing, feeling the subzero metal press into her dry palms, solid and shocking. She leaned over, glancing down at the dry, rocky, lightly grassed ground down below. A few tufts of clover, scraggly but still very green, poked out of the hard, packed gravel. 

There was still a little bit of snow, clinging to the shadows beneath the bleachers, dirty and a strange greyish brown color.

Kiki glared at her out of the corner of her eye, her olive toned face in dark chocolate eyes set in reproachful lines, dark, sad regret burning under her anger. 

Ibaki took a deep, shuddering breath, pulling the icy, rain scented air into her lungs in one sharp gasp. her hands tightened against the metal, the skin of her knuckles whitening until her freckles disappeared. 

Yui came up behind her, laying a hand on her shoulder, as if in a silent question. The mountains, coated with the fog of snow and wind hidden beneath the grey of the clouds, spread themselves across her vision, filling her dark world with distance and wild, untouched beauty. 

“Are you okay?” His clear grey eyes were filled with a solemn concern, the most serious look I had ever seen on his face. 

“Yeah. I’m good. Just a little… off.”

“Oh.” He came up beside her, leaning lightly against the metal of the stands, his hands loose and floppy over the edge, hanging casually over the brink. A light, chilly wind rose up, darting up from below, swooping around us, threading into her hair, lifting his turquoise mop into wild, dread locked tangles.

“Ibaki.. Can I ask you something?”

“Whatever. Sure. I guess.”

“What really happened with that ex of yours?” 

“She committed suicide. Because of ...me. And I am still not really over it.”

“Why can’t you move on?”

“I guess I’m scared.”

“Don’t be scared. I’m here for you.”

“Really? Like, in that way?”

“I guess. So… yeah?”

“Why not? I don’t mind you and you started it.”

Yui’s whole face lit up and he blushed to the roots of his brightly dyed hair, even the turquoise blushing a little with the force of his embarrassment. “Awesome!” 

  
  


Yui’s family apartment, a small but homey place a few buildings over from the building Ketsu and Ibaki lived in, had a small welcome sign on the door, the ancient Japanese kanji for luck. The building was older, a different model than the familiar lines of her own home building. 

The week’s grey, snow and rain laden skies had not yet blown over and still the moisture of spring lay heavy in the belly of the tumultuous grey clouds. 

Yui’s hand, warm and dry, and just a little bit rough enveloped hers, surprisingly large considering he was only an inch or so taller than her and no heavier. He knocked on the door, hand almost as ghostly as mine in the dim, rainy light, seeming to float out of the sleeve of his grey sweater. 

Deep in the house, someone stirred, snowflake soft footsteps padding down the hall Ibaki knew was behind the plain, worn door. The lock clicked, the door swinging open, a short girl with long, thick, ghostly blonde hair and Yui’s horns and dove toned eyes answered the door, standing tall in the dark entryway.

“So this is the renowned Ibaki? Yui better not have been exaggerating. I want to see your art.”

Yui grinned sheepishly under the heat of her questioning glare. “Ande is an animation artist in training.”

Oh. That would explain it. She had a small smudge of ink on her neck, in the exact same place Yui had his scar. 

Ande stepped aside, gesturing behind her, glancing her over a few times as I passed. “Yui, I think you chose well. If her drawing skills are half as good as her looks she’s better than me.”

That made her turn red, a rich tomato tone, indicated only by the fiery heat gushing around her ears, filling in the place between her freckles. Definitely an older sister in every sense of the term. 

We all padded into the kitchen, socked feet soft on the carpet, all in a line like little ducks. There was already sushi laid out on the table, the vegetarian kind you could get at the gourmet place down the street. 

A smaller girl sat there, her hair cut short and dyed to an inky, blue black gloss across her head. Her horns were smaller, as if Yui’s had been scaled down. 

“Mom’s not home yet. She said to go ahead and eat. Introductions later.”

“Ibaki, this is Peyu.”

Peyu had inky hands, swirls of pen covering her arms and fading into dark, glossy smudges on the tips of her fingers. The blackness of the pen looked so much darker in the dim kitchen, climbing up her arms in dark, ominous swirls. 

Ibaki smiled at her, pulling back her lips to reveal her slightly overlong canines, the corners of her eyes lifting into a happy crinkle.

It was wasted on the little emo. “Gee, did her teeth hurt when you two made out?”

Ande laughed, a small, giggle so much younger than she herself. 

Ibaki had never had so much sushi as she consumed that night. The walk home, through the cool, rainy quiet of the post sunset evening, was marred by the stiff, overfed sensation around her midsection. 

There was no way Ibaki was going to sleep with this kind of excess in her stomach. There was no ---- way. 

“Oof. I ate way too much.”

“Ugh, same. Ande really went all out. I hope Mom wasn’t mad because that was totally worth it.”

“That’s… debatable.”  
A car screamed by, racing down the road and off into the fading dove colored light of the evening. The sky, dark and dramatic, stretched away from her in a roiling mass of stormy turbulence. 

Ibaki sighed, breathing in and out in a long, drawn out huff. Yui stepped forward, one hand out toward her. He grabbed her wrist, tugging just a little.

“Cummon. I told your mom we’d be back by 9 pm.”

Ibaki had a sudden, strange feeling we were going to be way later than 9 pm. Then, for no reason, the same dark, nervous feeling that had overwhelmed her the night Kiki died washed over her, dark inky waves of it pulling her under.

“LOOK OUT!!”

The car didn’t stop.

But Yui sure did. 

The heart monitor seemed awfully faint and slow to her, the quiet beeps loud and ominous in the dim hotel room. 

The nurse tugged on her shoulder, her gloved hand gentle on the bones. “You should give him space.”

“No, stay.”

Yui’s voice was tiny and hollow, too weak to carry much intent. But he was awake. Which meant he was alive. 

“Yui!”

“I had to say goodbye.”

“No.. don’t.. Don’t say that. You will make it.”

But there was a certain finality in the air that told her he wouldn’t. His color incredibly faded.

The heart monitor beeped, one last time.

And. 

Then. 

It. 

Simply….

Stopped. 

  
  
  


Her own dark, blood colored, bloodshot stared back at her, as hollow as her soul, as dark as her heart.

Ibaki sank to her knees, gripping the edge of the cold, porcelain cabinet. The little pills, small, and white and nondescript, swam in her vision, blurred by the tears, the only way she would ever see her dearest friends again.

But Ibaki couldn’t give up. She still had to be there, for Ketsu, and her father. 

Tempting.

The tears that swam in her eyes spilled over, and slipped down her face, from a drop, to a stream to a waterfall. 

Yui’s color, a bubbly, sea foam turquoise. 

Kiki’s color, a dark, rich teal.

Why her. 

**Author's Note:**

> If you did read this - thank you! Please leave a comment if you want me to post more of my original works.


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